Your dreams and you
March 6, 2020 - Visiting Practitioner Claude Simard talks to us about the therapeutic benefits of using the messages of our dreams. It starts with our inner child. When was the last time you listened to yours?
We all have an inner child within us. Unfortunately, we are not always very good at listening to our deep selves; however, our own inner child never gives up or goes away. When there is harmony with our inner child, they become our deep intuition and can communicate with us through our dreams.
A popular addition to our Six Senses resorts since 2013, Claude Simard has been helping people to rediscover their inner child for over 20 years. During a Psycho-Energetic Massage treatment, or an Inner Child Meditation session, he can guide you to reconnect with this deep part of yourself.
First things first, what do you mean by the inner child?
“The inner child is widely recognized in psychology as a sensitive and spontaneous part of ourselves. It is our source of creativity and intuition and connecting with our inner child is like being in a deep connection with the source of our own energy. Children naturally allow their emotions to flow freely, which enables them to stay sensitive and in balance. So, when we respect and try to understand the language of our dreams, we can have a richer connection with our deep self.”
How does your inner child manifest in a dream?
“Everyone dreams differently. We all use our own personal symbols to understand what we’re dealing with in our deep subconscious. Say you dream you’re at a buffet breakfast and there is delicious food all around you; however, you can’t take any of it because you don’t have a plate. We could interpret this as the food being your source of energy, but something is missing, so you can’t access it. In this case, the plate is your inner child; they can help you access this energy. When you are facing an ongoing issue in your life, repetitive dreams can come up. When you start to understand your dreams, you can find that these repetitive dreams contain the answer that can help you to overcome the situation. Then this dream will no longer need to repeat as you have received the message.”
Are bad dreams bad for you?
“Bad dreams are the best dreams to work with. They are the most significant. A lot of energy needs to be released (to allow a new one to take place). When you start to express what is in your deep subconscious, it means you are willing to access it. You may be having a nightmare where you’re walking in a desert surrounded by sand. The sand becomes softer and it is hard to walk. You start to sink. You think you’re going to die. You wake up sweating. You can use this dream to transform things in your life at a different level. In this dream it shows that your base is unstable. It means that a deep belief that you hold is an illusion and is not true. The part of you that believes in this illusion needs to die.”
You might meet an alien. This is simply a part of you that you can’t access yet. It is a specific energy or knowledge within you that is foreign and ‘out of this world’. The temptation is to run, but everything is you. The alien is not there to threaten you; in fact, it is positive energy.”
How do you approach your own dreams?
“Say I dream that I am running away from something. I can use this as part of my meditation to stop running and face it. I start to feel energetic waves and it might bring back memories. As adults we’re great at remembering the facts but the most important thing to access is the emotion. When I focus on my inner child with compassionate attention, I notice these emotions arising and see what is happening in the heart of my younger self. Then I can accept that this dream is telling me that I have to start releasing old ideas or emotions and feelings that may have been generating blockages in my self-expression.”
How about people who don’t dream?
“Everyone dreams, but not everyone remembers them. It is possible to reconnect with that dimension. During my workshops, I can give you tools to remember your dreams. Sometimes writing dreams down can be helpful, or even saying them out loud at the time you woke up can help you remember them the next day. Guided meditation can also help you find very powerful messages in your dreams as you can connect with the source of your energy and ask what is blocking you from self-realization. Then you may receive some answers. Sometimes it can take three or five dreams before you understand the message, because each dream is showing you a different aspect of what you need to know. It is like piecing together a puzzle.”
How do we reconnect with our inner child?
“Before you go to sleep, find a quiet moment to remember how you were and who you were as a child or five or six years old. An old photograph might help you. It is often easier to feel compassion for other people than it is for yourself, so call out to your inner child with compassion and attention. Call yourself, your little one, using the name your parents used for you at this age. Listen to your heart beating, connect with your heart and generate love towards your inner child. You might feel some energy inside you. If you sense your little one nearby then tell them ‘I’m you when you will be older’. They might be emotional because they’ll be surprised that you’re interested in them. Ask them to come back into your body and accept their feelings and emotions. Tell them you love them and honor them. Create this safe space where you speak kindly to them. You can then start asking questions about what you want to know.”